The Bulls have waived center Daniel Oturu and shooting guard Ethan Thompson, the team announced today (via Twitter). Both players had been in Chicago on Exhibit 10 contracts.
Oturu, the 33rd overall pick in the 2020 draft, spent his first NBA season with the Clippers, averaging 1.8 PPG and 1.6 RPG in 30 games (5.4 MPG). He was sent to the Grizzlies along with Patrick Beverley and Rajon Rondo in an August trade, then joined the Bulls after being waived by Memphis.
Thompson, who went undrafted this year, spent his four-year college career with Oregon State, starting all 127 games he played for the team. In 2020/21, he averaged 15.7 PPG to go along with 4.0 RPG and 3.9 APG in 33.6 minutes per contest (33 games). The 22-year-old earned a spot on the All-Pac-12 First Team, then played for the Bulls’ Summer League team in Las Vegas.
With Oturu and Thompson no longer in the mix, the Bulls are carrying 18 players, including one (Devon Dotson) on a two-way deal. The team has 13 players on guaranteed contracts, with Stanley Johnson, Alize Johnson, Tyler Cook, and Matt Thomas vying for the last two spots on the 15-man regular season roster.
You mean Devon Nissan don’t you ??
Maybe they could give Okafor a shot, and he can fight it out with Alize and/or Stanley Johnson for those last two spots…
I’d, personally, go ahead and give Alize Johnson one of the spots, and then have Okafor and Stanley Johnson fight it out for the last spot. Either of those two are a big upgrade over Felicio who was their last man on the bench seemingly for the past decade!! lol
If I were the bulls I would start alize Johnson, he’s a tough interior rebounder who is never going to be offensively above average and it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t develop, patrick williams coming off the bench with Caruso could be great defensively and then allows patrick to be much more offensive focal point with Caruso helping develop him offensively, you bring Caruso Troy brown jr Derrick Jones jr and patrick off the bench that is very athletic and could be nice, then let coby work his way back
Rockets should be all over Oturu. Get him in G-league and school him. Definitely an NBA talent. Needs development and commitment. 20 yrs old
Oturu needs to get himself back in shape. He fits as a modern day big on certain teams, but he hurt himself with that issue alone. He also has to work on his awareness on the floor, but a lot of that would be alleviated just by the conditioning improving